Chapter 527 Meeting

After the British Motor Group and McLaren Technology Group cooperated to establish McLaren Automotive, in addition to providing funds, the British Motor Group will also use their relevant manufacturing resources to help McLaren restart the production of civilian cars.

In the future, the McLaren brand will compete with Ferrari and Porsche in the field of supercars and produce track-level sports cars.

Of course, at present, the British Motor Group has only invested in McLaren, and McLaren's racing team and the manufacturing of civilian cars will be led by Ron Dennis.

Baron knew that in his previous life, Ron Dennis was also very successful in McLaren's civilian car transformation. For example, the McLaren P1, one of the "three great cars" that was very popular in the car circle later, was a decision made by Ron Dennis.

McLaren P1 is also the second successful counterattack in the world sports car market since the establishment of McLaren Automotive in 1989-the first counterattack was in 1Laren F1.

Now McLaren Automotive is setting off again, and will continue to target the top supercar market. In fact, the supercars launched by this supercar brand are often limited editions, and the corresponding profit of each car is good.

But if you add the investment in R&D and the fleet, you can't make much money. This can be seen from the fact that Ferrari is the only supercar brand in the world with good profits.

But the investment in McLaren is of great significance to the British Automobile Group, which can be used to develop and experiment with some new technologies, which can be applied to other products of the British Automobile Group in the future. In addition, the supercar brand adds to the image of the entire automobile group.

Of course, the British Automobile Group also has Aston Martin, but Aston Martin has left the F1 arena for a long time, and it will take time to re-enter, and for a long time, its performance will definitely be difficult to surpass McLaren.

Besides, for such a brand, in fact, apart from R&D, which is quite useful for the entire group's automobile manufacturing, as long as there are no major decision-making mistakes, it will not lose much money, so it is not too much.

...

"Wow, you really bought McLaren, dear..."

On the way back, Tamaran could not hide her excitement, which could be felt from her tone.

"It's too early to say, baby, now we are just cooperating with McLaren and are their shareholders."

"But you are already a major shareholder, right? And you will eventually buy it outright..."

Hearing Tamaran say this, Barron couldn't help but smile:

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know you, you will definitely buy something you like..."

Although Tamaran looks careless and has a "naive" feeling, in fact, she can actually see some things clearly.

"By the way, dear... I want to make a program about cars."

Being hugged by the girl, listening to her sweet words, Barron turned and asked:

"Why do you suddenly have such an idea?"

"Because this is what I am interested in, and now I have some experience in making programs, so I want to try it."

Barron himself is very supportive of the interests of the women around him, and Tamaran also has her own advantages. Her father is an authority on F1 events, and she has been influenced by it since she was a child, and she has her own ideas about it.

At this time, Murdoch had arrived in England with his wife Deng Wendi, and after they arrived, they also received media attention-he also enjoyed the treatment of being chased by reporters this time.

After Barron returned to London, he had a secret meeting with Murdoch in one of his villas.

"Is it possible that the duke is behind our incident this time?"

Before coming here, Deng Wendi asked Murdoch this question.

"There is no evidence to prove this, Wendi..." Murdoch said slowly: "But it doesn't matter. You just need to understand that Cavendish is one of the keys to our solution." Murdoch understood that even if the outbreak of the "wiretapping scandal" had little to do with Barron, the emergence of this incident would inevitably allow the other party to take advantage of it. Just like what he said to Deng Wendi: "News Corporation's biggest competitor in the UK is SEM Group. Although the BBC looks more powerful, it is not a big threat to us because of its non-profit nature. Only SEM Group owns ITV in the television industry and Independent Newspapers in the newspaper industry. It is very similar to the layout of News Corporation and is therefore a direct competitor. So, if it were me, I would spare no effort to have the opportunity to strike a competitor..." ... "Welcome to London, Mr. Murdoch. It's a pity that the weather in London is not very good recently." After the two met, Murdoch heard more meaning from the words of the young British Duke.

However, as an "old fox", Murdoch has seen all kinds of scenes and will not be affected by them. He still smiled and said:

"Although the recent rain is indeed very London, it will soon be sunny, Your Highness."

"Yes, we all need an optimistic attitude, even if the reality is often not satisfactory."

Barron shrugged and sat down on the sofa in the living room with Murdoch:

"By the way, this is the purest English black tea, which is very warm. I wonder if you are used to it, Mr. Murdoch."

"Thank you, Your Highness..."

Murdoch understood that he did not come here to say these meaningless words to the other party. Of course, the Duke of England in front of him could chat with him without any burden, but he still needed to get straight to the point.

"I think you should know what News Corporation has encountered, Your Highness. I came here to hope that we can be friends and cooperate with each other. I don't know how to impress you?"

Hearing this, Barron knew that it was time to negotiate terms.

"I heard that many people on the board of News Corporation have proposed to get rid of the trouble by selling News International, right? I think this is also a good way for News Corporation to get out of trouble."

Currently, News Corporation's business in the UK is mainly composed of two parts, BSkyB and News International.

News Corporation holds 39% of BSkyB's shares and is its largest shareholder, controlling the most successful commercial TV station in the UK.

And News International includes all of News Corporation's British paper media and publishing businesses.

"There are indeed such voices in the board of directors about this, but I think escaping is not a good strategy, but to take responsibility."

Murdoch's meaning is very clear, that is, he will not easily sell News International...

He continued:

"I believe you also understand, Your Highness, whether it is News International or BSkyB, even if we sell it, it will be difficult for you to become a buyer, unless you give up SEM Group..."

His words hit the point. News International's newspapers account for about one-third of the circulation in the UK.

The independent newspapers under the SEM Group account for one-fifth of the newspaper circulation in the UK.

If News International is sold to SEM Group, it means that they will control more than half of the print media distribution in the UK, which is absolutely not allowed by the relevant regulatory authorities.

As for the TV stations, the same is true. The three largest TV stations in the UK are BBC, ITV and BSkyB.

Among them, BBC is a public TV station, and only ITV and BSkyB are commercial TV stations.

So how could the British government allow SEM Group, or Barron, to control the two largest commercial TV stations and almost monopolize British TV broadcasting?

Therefore, whether it is News International or BSkyB, even if News Corporation is sold, the target cannot be SEM Group or other companies controlled by Barron. This is also the first consensus reached by Murdoch and Barron...